A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A Chardonnay From Argentina
This column's very first wine was an Argentine red. While Argentina does mostly red wines, it does produce some whites including Chardonnay. Argentina is the fifth largest wine producer in the world, and the Mendoza area where this wine originated is one of the world's largest wine producing regions. Would you believe that it's home to 30 thousand grape growers? These Chardonnay grapes come from the La Pinta vineyards at an elevation of some 2000 feet (620 meters) above sea level. This is a much higher elevation than what is usually found in Europe. High elevation means the grapes have a long time to ripen without becoming too alcoholic. These grapes were hand harvested before entering Don Cristobal's state of the art facilities.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review have been purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed Cristobal 1492 Chardonnay 2009 13% alcohol about $10 Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Our panel was extremely impressed with the quality of this humbly priced Chardonnay. It shows pretty aromas of apple, Bosc pear and nectarines. It's dry with a creamy texture and delicate orchard fruit flavours along with a hint of cinnamon. There's a lovely seam of acidity keeping it all in good balance. This wine is the very definition of affordable elegance. (VINTAGES panel, June 2009) And now for my review.
At the first sips the Chardonnay showed sweetness and nice acidity with apples. It had good length. The initial meal was a commercial chicken schnitzel and the wine responded with good acidity and an appley taste. I added some Louisiana cayenne pepper sauce but the wine didn't really deal with it. The side dish was boxed zucchini pancakes including onions and carrots. I tasted apples and pears. The wine did a good job of handling the pancakes' grease but was short. Fresh pineapple brought out the oak in the wine.
The next meal started with a Middle-Eastern specialty kube; ground beef in crushed bulghar jackets in a lightly acidic broth brimming with Swiss Chard. The Chardonnay tasted of tangerines and had bright acidity. The meal continued with a commercial barbecued chicken breast in a light soya sauce. The wine became more forceful and I tasted apples. The fresh strawberry dessert brought some honey to the mix.
My final meal was an Atlantic salmon steak that had been marinated in a honey soya sauce mixture. The Chardonnay had light acidity. It was simple yet a good match to the salmon. The side of potato patties actually increased the wine's fruit; I got lots of tangerines.
Before the cheeses I tried this wine with Matjes herring. The Chardonnay presented fine acidity and an apple taste. This pairing was a success, somewhat unusual for herring. The first cheese was a 4% creamed cottage cheese. While the wine was long with focused acidity, it definitely did not mesh with the cheese. The second cheese was a Wisconsin Swiss. While the wine's fruit was muted, the cheese's nuttiness came through.
Final verdict. I would definitely buy this wine again. Of course it wasn't great but it was a good $10 wine, and they are not always easy to find. This producer offers a Merlot that I intend to sample.
About the Author
Over the years Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but really prefers drinking fine German wine, along with friends and the right foods. He teaches sundry computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his global wine website http://www.theworldwidewine.com with a weekly column reviewing $10 wines and new sections writing about (theory) and tasting (practice) organic and kosher wines.
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